Hardware upgrade

[Eric Howard]

I recently picked up a Bean Blossom BMS-45E at a good price, and, after playing on it for a couple of months, I think it will be a decent, serviceable mandolin. It needs different tuners, and I don't care all that much for the tailpiece. What are some recommendations for tuning machines and tailpieces? If they can be found at Stew-Mac, it makes everything easier. Thanks.

[mandroid]

Leave the stuff thats on there till it fails,

I'm seeing folks fuss too much over the mandolin , parts
instead of just concentrating playing the music .. Got a proper set up?

save your money in an FDIC account to get interest.. to do that next instrument up-purchase.

but S-M .. their tuners are fine .. Elites turn stiff but stay in the place they were left, slipping should not be an issue due to the gears
[its pretty hard(near impossible) to turn a worm gear from the round-gear it is meshed with]

Granted, a cast tailpiece has no cover to lose.. you will drop about$ 200 on that stuff.. I'd guess.

practice :whistling: ;)

[Ravenwood]

I think some upgrades can be well worth doing, but I think I would prioritize a little differently. Mandoid makes an excellent point about setup. That should come first. If I remember correctly the Bean Blossom has a rosewood bridge. If it were me, I would upgrade the bridge to an ebony as a starting point. As far as tuners are concerned, if they aren't working well, then it may be necessary to change them, but try oiling and adjusting first if possible. As far as the tailpiece is concerned, I'm with mandroid on that one. I would only change it if there's a problem with it.

[MikeEdgerton]

I love the hot rod concept of modifying instruments. Normally I'd say go for Waverly tuners and a James tailpiece but I'm afraid someone would point out that $500.00 tuners and a $150.00 tailpiece might be seen as overkill. Instead just play the heck out of it and save for the next mandolin that you will ultimately want to buy anyway. We all go through this stage.

[John Flynn]

I agree that the setup is your best investment. Personally, I would not invest in a cast tailpiece for that level of instrument. Just not worth it.

But for tuners, I think the unsung value in tuners are the Grover Sta-tites, aka Grover "Economy" tuners. They are not as cool looking as Grover Deluxe, Schallers, or Elites, but they function every bit as well as any of those for a lot less. Mid-Missouri used them as their tuner upgrade option. I upgraded my Parsons Flat-top from entry-level tuners to Sta-tites and it was a great improvement. Stewmac does not carry them, but LMI does. You can find them other places also:

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Tuning+Machines&NameProdHeader=Grover+Economy+%93A%94+Style+Mandol in+Tuning+Machines